We’re asking nicely now.
Online gaming on PS3 is free and despite some hiccups, manages to outperform its next-gen successor by a wide margin when it comes to PSN functionality and friend managing.
Why is that?
I thought by paying for the service on PS4, Sony would use these new funds to better stabilize and provide a premium service that outpaces its predecessor. But no, not only does it feel like we’re paying for an inferior service, it feels like an issue that is being swept under the rug. I mean seriously, how many more stability updates can we possibly get? All eyes are on the imminent firmware update 2.0 as Sony promises welcomed changes and improvements to the user experience. As for right now however, PSN on PS4 is a train wreck. It is utterly embarrassing and inconceivable that a premium service could work this poorly. Heck, even the Vita handles this much better.
Earlier today I sat down on my couch after a busy day ready to boot up the PS4 with the intentions of playing some Destiny with a couple of people. I was going to try out the Vault of Glass raid but I needed a fireteam and none of my friends were high enough level to join me. So I went to Reddit and posted about it along with my PSN ID so other gamers could add me and join me on this treacherous adventure. The friend requests started pouring in immediately, suffice to say I began to feel very excited and pumped to kick some Vex ass. It wasn’t until I started replying to the friend requests that my excitement soon turned into extreme frustration. Check out the short video below of me wrestling with the UI and the painfully slow refresh rates.
As you can see, I couldn’t accept friend requests and I couldn’t even delete them. The frustration boiled even harder once more requests started ringing in. By the 5th or 6th request, I had elapsed at least 30 minutes of just trying to add anybody. The requests slowed down to a complete halt as many of them started to disappear. 40 minutes later, I gave up and begrudgingly decided to fire up a Strike mission instead.
After a couple of kills and a few swigs from my Sam Adams, I decided it wasn’t worth it to play anymore. All of that waiting around completely destroyed any kind of momentum or desire I had to play this game or any other game for that matter and it’s all thanks to this inept service that requires us to pay. Much of this frustration with PSN was kept bottled up since launch but gradually, the irritation grew larger and larger. The friend system is broken and Sony needs to fix this immediately.
PSN has countless other issues as well but they usually get swept under the rug by the optimism that Playstation Plus brings. It’s time to put this issue center stage. I have never seen a service go through so many maintenance and stability updates only to fail at the very thing it’s trying to improve. Sony, please fix PSN. It’s awful but it’s not like we’re paying for it.
Oh, actually we are.
